World Aids Day 2011: Doctors With HIV 'Could Be Allowed To Work In NHS'

01/12/2011 08:47

PA

A Government consultation will determine whether restrictions on NHS workers with HIV should be relaxed after a review found an "extremely low" risk of the disease being passed to patients.

England's Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies announced the plan after Government advisers said UK rules were "out of step" with available evidence.

They found the risk of a patient being infected with HIV from an infected healthcare worker during the most invasive type of surgery (such as open heart surgery or hysterectomy) was about one in five million.

It was negligible for less invasive procedures, such as having an injection of local anaesthetic during dental treatment.

At present, healthcare workers diagnosed with HIV are not allowed to perform most surgical or dental procedures.

These restrictions will remain in place until the outcome of the decision. Consultations will run in England, Wales and Scotland simultaneously.

The Expert Advisory Group on Aids, the UK Advisory Panel of Healthcare Workers Infected with Blood-borne Viruses and the Advisory Group on Hepatitis jointly examined available evidence.

They found no reported transmissions of HIV from healthcare workers. This is despite almost 10,000 patients having been tested following treatment by infected healthcare workers since 1988.

They also reported that few other countries have such tight restrictions as the UK.

In September, the Department of Health announced gay men will be able to give blood when restrictions are lifted later this year. A lifetime ban on blood donation by men who have had sex with another man was put in place in the UK in the 1980s as a response to the spread of Aids and HIV.